Khao Niew Dam - Thai Black Sticky Rice

Khao niew dam (Black sticky rice), also known as Indonesian black rice, or black, or purple rice.

This is a unique variety of rice.

The almost black, purple color of the cooked rice comes from the dark unpolished layer of bran, and during cooking the anthocyanin pigment leaches out and stains the interior white grain.

The color is everything as it signals a significant nutritional difference from white glutinous rice. The bran hull of black rice contains one of the highest levels of anthocyanin pigment found in any food. Research shows that anthocyanin offers anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and possibly anticancer effects!

The glutinous Thai black rice cultivar known as Khao Niew Dam has considerably higher anthocyanin content than the non-glutinous black variety Hom Nil — with total anthocyanin contents of 4,099 mg/100g dry weight in native form, compared to 305 mg/100g for the non-glutinous type.

Black glutinous rice shares many of the characteristics of white glutinous rice, with the key difference being that it is unmilled and the bran has not been removed. The grains of the Thai black rice is slightly more robust and firmer than white glutinous rice.

Thai black glutinous rice (black sticky rice) is a whole-grain glutinous rice that retains its dark bran layer, unlike the milled white glutinous rice commonly used throughout Southeast Asia. The intact bran gives the cooked rice a chewier, more toothsome texture and helps the grains remain more distinct. Like white glutinous rice, it is rich in amylopectin and therefore naturally sticky, but its whole-grain structure produces a firmer mouthfeel and a less uniform texture.

White glutinous rice is almost entirely composed of amylopectin, making it intensely sticky. Black glutinous rice also contains this starch, but the presence of the bran layer makes the individual grains less aggressively sticky and firmer to the touch.

Made in Thailand